1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to technology for non-volatile storage.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor memory devices have become more popular for use in various electronic devices. For example, non-volatile semiconductor memory is used in cellular telephones, digital cameras, personal digital assistants, mobile computing devices, non-mobile computing devices and other devices. Electrical Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM) and flash memory are among the most popular non-volatile semiconductor memories.
Both EEPROM and flash memory utilize a floating gate that is positioned above and insulated from a channel region in a semiconductor substrate. The floating gate is positioned between source and drain regions. A control gate is provided over and insulated from the floating gate. The threshold voltage of the transistor is controlled by the amount of charge that is retained on the floating gate. That is, the minimum amount of voltage that must be applied to the control gate before the transistor is turned on to permit conduction between its source and drain is controlled by the level of charge on the floating gate.
When programming an EEPROM or flash memory device, typically a program voltage is applied to the control gate and the bit line is grounded. Electrons from the channel are injected into the floating gate. When electrons accumulate in the floating gate, the floating gate becomes negatively charged and the threshold voltage of the memory cell is raised so that the memory cell is in the programmed state. More information about programming can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,859,397, titled “Source Side Self Boosting Technique For Non-Volatile Memory;” and U.S. Pat. No. 6,917,542, titled “Detecting Over Programmed Memory,” both patents are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Some EEPROM and flash memory devices have a floating gate that is used to store two ranges of charges and, therefore, the memory cell can be programmed/erased between two states, an erased state and a programmed state that correspond to data “1” and data “0.” Such a device is referred to as a binary or two-state device.
A multi-state flash memory cell is implemented by identifying multiple, distinct allowed threshold voltage ranges. Each distinct threshold voltage range corresponds to a predetermined value for the set of data bits. The specific relationship between the data programmed into the memory cell and the threshold voltage ranges of the memory cell depends upon the data encoding scheme adopted for the memory cells. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,222,762 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0255090, both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, describe various data encoding schemes for multi-state flash memory cells.
In some embodiments, the program voltage applied to the control gate includes a series of pulses that are increased in magnitude with each successive pulse by a predetermined step size (e.g. 0.2v, 0.3v, 0.4v, or others). Between pulses, the memory system will verify whether the individual memory cells have reached their respective target threshold voltage ranges. Those memory cells that have reached their target threshold voltage range will be locked out of future programming (e.g., by raising the bit line voltage to Vdd). When all memory cells have reached their target threshold voltage range, programming is complete.
With multi-state non-volatile storage, some systems will verify memory cells being programmed to each allowed threshold voltage range between programming pulses. The more allowed threshold voltage ranges, the longer it takes to perform the verification. Longer verification operations slow down the programming process.